Umbrella Brand without Content : Causes and Consequences Based on the Case of the Hungarian Danube Band

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Zsuzsanna Lontai Szilágyi,  Kornélia Kiss,  Gábor Michalkó  

Branding has an undeniably important role in the effective sales and competitiveness of a destination. This is even more true if local destinations are able to exploit the synergistic effects of umbrella brands as a region. However, the development of an umbrella brand can be influenced by many factors in tourism. This study examines the Hungarian Danube Bend located in the neighborhood of Budapest, which has a significant leisure and tourism history and an iconic name for same-day visits and recreation. The region has a huge potential in the tourist and recreational development, but its brand is now empty for many reasons. Besides exploring these causes, the study as a basis for filling the umbrella brand reveals the self-image of local destinations and analyzes the image of the region and its current leisure function. For the previous one the structured content analysis of settlement sites, while for the latter the online questionnaire survey among potential consumers were used. The results highlight the ambivalent role of Budapest for the tourism development of the region. The brand fatigue of the Danube Bend is due, inter alia, to the changing development policy priorities and the resulting delineation, as well as the confused image and self-image. In the communication of the settlements the shadow effects of smaller geographic regions on the Danube Bend and the lack of local tourism brands were revealed. The consumer survey proved that the region is still attractive for longer stays.